The Business Insights Your Expense, Travel and Invoice Data Can Reveal
Accountex is the UK's number one exhibition for accountancy and finance leaders. This year, over 7,000 professionals attended looking for advice on how to tackle their biggest business challenges. Of course, visitors to the SAP Concur stand were keen to understand the benefits of automated expense, travel and invoice management.
At the event, Matthew Oakley, Regional Director of SMB Client Development at SAP Concur, delivered a session on the power of connected spend and the business insights your expense, travel and invoice data can reveal. If you missed Matthew’s talk, here are the headlines…
The Key to Becoming a Strategic Partner
In a study we conducted with CIMA, the biggest priority for finance leaders over the next two years is playing a more strategic, and less administrative, role in their business.
To achieve this, you need total control and visibility over your company spend. But it’s something few finance leaders feel confident about. In fact, a study we conducted with Vanson Bourne showed that 81% don’t have complete visibility over expense, travel and invoice spend.
At the same time, you may find yourself in the position of having to do more with less. When you’re struggling with limited time and resources, manual processes are often the biggest stumbling blocks.
The Problems with Manual Processes
Manual and paper-based expense, travel and invoice processes make it hard for your business to get visibility of all aspects of spending.
But that’s not the only problem.
Manual processes affect efficiency too. In the Vanson Bourne study, finance leaders said 18% of their time is spent on admin tasks – that’s nearly one day a week! When you’re time-poor, mistakes and inaccuracies can slip through – 43% of finance leaders are very concerned about HMRC inspections and they believe up to 99% of expense claims are approved without scrutiny.
What’s more, travel, AP and finance functions are often handled by different teams using separate systems. This makes it even harder to analyse employee spend or make informed decisions.
The Benefits of Automated and Connected Spend
So, why should you consider connecting and automating your spend with one cloud-based system for three different processes?
- You can improve productivity because employees don’t have to spend time grappling with different systems for every process. Plus, employee satisfaction is improved because you’ve simplified a previously arduous process.
- You can reduce late payments, avoid penalties and improve supplier relationships because you’ve cut down the numbers of steps in the process without compromising on compliance.
- You’ll be better equipped to protect and support your employees when they travel for business because real-time expense data from company credit cards can help you locate them if necessary.
- You can see and report on company-wide spend from one place so you can manage proactively spot patterns and control costs. Crucially, you’re equipped to make informed and strategic decisions, adding huge value to the business.
In Other Words, Automation Equals Empowerment
When you automate and connect your spend, you are empowered to see what’s happened, what’s happening and what’s about to happen. More importantly, you’ve got the tools to do something about it, before it’s too late.